Many modern electronic devices support photography features. For instance, some electronic devices include a forward-facing camera for taking photographs and video of a portion of a forward scene that is in a field of view of the forward-facing camera. The forward scene is the area that is in front of a user of the electronic device. In addition, some electronic devices also include a rearward-facing camera for taking photographs and video of a portion of a rearward scene that is in a field of view of the rearward-facing camera. In typical hand-held operation of the electronic device, the field of view of the rearward-facing camera includes the user. Therefore, the rearward-facing camera is often used to take self portraits or to carry out video telephony.
Taking sharp photographs and video depends on a variety of factors, including a number of camera settings. Exemplary camera settings that may have an effect on image quality include, but are not limited to, image stabilization (e.g., optical and/or digital system), light sensitivity settings (e.g., aperture, shutter speed, etc.), autofocus, color balance, mode of operation, etc. An exemplary operational mode is time shift where a number of images are captured in a period of time (e.g., two seconds) and the images are analyzed to select a best one of the images or combined to improved image quality.
But even with a variety of settings that may be adjusted to improve image quality, there is still room for improvement. For instance, to make automated changes to settings or trigger the capturing of images in a time shift made, the camera may analyze the content of the scene within the field of view of the camera. This technique cannot account for items that may be moving into the camera's field of view, either by movement of the item or by movement of the camera relative to the scene. This is because objects outside the camera's field of view are, in effect, unknown regardless of the analysis technique used to assess a preview video stream output by the camera.
Eye tracking has been proposed to improve camera performance. In this approach, a rearward-facing camera is used to track the gaze of the user and adjust autofocus or other settings of the forward-facing camera. But even if it is detected that the user is looking at an area outside the field of view of the forward-facing camera, the nature of the item at which the user is looking is speculative at best and changes in forward-facing camera settings cannot be effectively made.